Twilight
by CherriesandRoses89
Summary: “Behind the facade of bravery and strength lies hidden a delicate, wounded heart that hasn’t forgotten.” “The most beautiful, elegantly carved glass, no matter how heavy, is still glass. It needs to be handled with care." RymoxSaku ? FujixOC
1. Out of Sorts

**Title:** Twilight

**Chapter Title: **Out of Sorts

**Word Count: **1,918

**Status:** Continuous - Incomplete

**Pairing:** RyoxSaku , FujixOC

**Summary: "**Behind the facade of bravery and strength lies hidden a delicate, wounded heart that hasn't forgotten how to care." What do you mean by that? "The most beautiful, elegantly carved glass, no matter how heavy, is still glass. It needs to be handled with care, or it will shatter."

* * *

**OUT OF SORTS**

"Tezuka-kun, you're late today," said Oishi running to catch up to the Seishun Gakuen Tennis Captain.

"Hn." Tezuka walked on towards the courts, not minding his friend walking beside him.

"Ne, Tezuka-kun," Oishi pressed on, "It's not like you to miss a whole hour of morning training. What's up?"

"Nothing," replied Tezuka. "I had to take a little detour, that's all."

Oishi stopped and watched his old friend walk towards the courts, where Ryuuzaki-sensei was already pulling on Momoshiro's cheek for yet again disobeying a direct command.

"Ne, Oishi, what's wrong?"

Oishi turned to see his doubles partner, Kikumaru Eiji, standing next to him, panting slightly, racket in hand. He seemed to have just come out of a practice game with Fuji Syuuske.

"I lost, if that's what you're wondering," said Eiji in reply to Oishi's raised eyebrow. "But that's besides the point. You look troubled. Tezuka, I take it?"

"Hai," Oishi nodded.

"What's up with the Captain? Ne, he's an hour late, isn't he?" said Eiji thoughtfully, scratching the tip of his nose.

"Hai," Oishi nodded again. "But never mind that now, Eiji. Let's play. Ah, Kaidou and Momo-chan, what do you say?"

Eiji glanced up at his partner. Oishi was smiling at him again, that cheery look on his face. But Eiji knew it was false, because he'd seen it too. Tezuka was never much of a talker, but today he was much quieter than usual. Arai had been arguing with Horio on the court for over five minutes now, and still Tezuka hadn't given the command for everyone to run twenty or so laps around the court. He would let it pass, but Eiji had a feeling things were going anywhere but uphill from here.

He nodded. "Hai, that sounds like a good idea. Let's go ask them."

**XxXxXxX**

"That was a good game," said Eiji, letting cool water run over his head.

"Hai," Oishi agreed. "Kaidou's Boomerang Snake is getting better."

"Aa, and Momoshiro's gotten stronger too. Momo-chan's gotten much better at doubles, don't you think, Oishi?"

Eiji waited but received no reply. Pulling his head out from under the tap and rubbing his hair with a towel, he glanced at his friend. Oishi was looking at something in the distance, a troubled look on his normally cheery face. Eiji straightened up to look in the same direction.

"Oh, it's Captain Tezuka."

Their Captain was walking alone, making his way to class. That wasn't out of the norm. Tezuka really was just like an older version of Echizen, after all. Eiji turned to relate this thought to Oishi but found no one standing behind him.

"Oi! Oishi! Matte!"

**XxXxXxX**

Afternoon practice was not going well. Not well at all. Momoshiro and Kaidou were arguing again – as ususal – and consequently, Eiji and Oishi couldn't get any practice out of them. No point in trying to play tennis when your opponents were too busy arguing amongst themselves. Kawamura was backing away from an evil-looking Inui, who was approaching steadily, a small shot of his latest and improved Inui Juice.

The only ones currently occupied and absorbed in their game were Fuji Syusuke and Echizen Ryoma.

"You've gotten better, Echizen," said Fuji lightly, although the expression of immense concentration on his face showed that he was taking this game anything _but_ lightly.

"Game point. Five games to four, Fuji Syusuke lead."

"Eh, I'm catching up, senpai," said Ryoma, a dangerous smirk on his usually stoic face as he threw his infamous Twist Serve. As Ryoma knew he easily would, Fuji returned it, changing the spin on the ball in the process. Ryoma returned the yellow ball with a grunt – Fuji-senpai could throw some heavy balls without without much exertion. He wasn't called tensai for nothing.

"_Say that again Viper! I'll knock your head right off your shoulders!"_

"_Nani! Teme!"_

Ryoma tried his best not to get sidetracked, but his return was a little off.

"Fifteen-love!"

Ryoma took this opportunity to chance a glance at the arguing pair. They were nose to nose, fists grasping shirts, growling (Momoshiro) and hissing and spitting (Kaidou).

"Yamero! Momo-chan! Kaidou-kun!" cried Eiji.

"Oi, Momoshiro! Koidou! That's enough," said Oishi, loud enough for all to hear.

"Anou, Momo-chan, Kaidou-kun ... eto ... maybe you should stop arguing," said Kawamura timidly.

"URUSAI!" both shouted simultaneously. They were on the verge of coming to blows. Desperate to avoid that (and the subsequent punishment of about fifty laps around the courts and an extremely irked Tezuka, which would most likely result in even more grueling practice the next day) someone – most likely Eiji – discreetly slipped Kawamura his racquet.

"BURNING BABY! SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU, YEAH! BRING IT ON!"

"Anou, Taka-san," said Eiji, "Maybe that's enough?"

"YEAH BABY! BRING IT ON! BURNING ANGER! SHOW ME BABY!" Kawamura began swinging his racquet wildly. Momoshiro and Kaidou forgot their argument as they both dodged the deadly swings. They glanced at each other and nodded.

"Uh-oh," muttered Fuji. "Here we go again."

"Hn. He's being very contradictory though, isn't he?" Ryoma knew what was going to happen next, knew that Tezuka would finally take action and most probably punish the whole lot of them. Innocent bystanders included.

As everyone knew they would, Momoshiro and Kaidou practically jumped on Kawamura, tackling him and trying to claim the racquet from him. It was easier said than done, though.

"Yamero! All of you! Twenty laps around the court, now!" declared Tezuka's authoritative voice.

"Oh, too bad Echizen," said Fuji.

"Aa, looks like we won't be able to finish out game again."

No one thought to argue as they made their way out. Momo and Kaidou had managed to wrestle the racquet from Taka-san without much injury to themselves. They ran along with the rest of the regulars, far ahead of the second years, while Tezuka instructed the remaining freshmen to tidy up as it was almost time to dismiss. The two hot-headed friends muttered indecencies to each other the whole time they were running, but did not resume their fight after the twenty laps were through.

In the changing rooms, all the regulars glared in Momo and Kaidou's direction.

"Don't look at me like that!" said Momoshiro, "It's his fault!"

"My fault? Fssshh!" hissed the Viper.

"Ne, ne," said Eiji, coming between them before they could resume their argument. "Don't start that again! Why don't we all just go get some burgers?"

"Fine with me," Momo grumbled.

"Fssshh," Kaidou hissed. "Count me out, I'm going home."

"Okay!" cried Eiji, punching air as he pulled on his uniform's coat. "So everyone else if coming, right? Ne, Oishi, you're coming too, right?" Eiji turned around to smile at the one half of the Golden Pair. "Huh? Not again! Where's he gone to?"

True enough, Oishi was nowhere to be seen. In fact, neither was Tezuka. Ryoma knew that the Captain and his second were close friends so he deduced that they must be outside talking if they hadn't left already, which was not an uncommon occurrence.

"Oh, looks like, you're right, Echizen."

"Huh, Fuji-senpai," said Ryoma, looking above him.

"So you noticed too, Echizen?" commented Fuji drily, his sharp eyes fixed on the pair walking purposefully away from the courts.

"You mean about Tezuka-buchoo?" said Ryoma, scratching his head, thinking.

"Aa. He's been a bit off lately."

"Oishi-senpai too; Eiji-senpai told me earlier. Oishi-senpai's been out of it all day since this morning, it seems."

"Oishi too, eh?" said Fuji, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I wonder what's bothering them. I hope it's nothing serious."

Ryoma silently agreed. Their conversation was cut short as the other regulars emerged from the rooms. Momoshiro slung a heavy arm around Ryoma's shoulders.

"Let's go, Echizen."

"Yosh! Ochibi's coming too! What about you, Fuji?" asked the energetic red-head.

"Oh me?" said Fuji, his face cheery once more. "Nie, I think I'll pass today. I have things to do at home."

Eiji was about to accuse their tensai of lying when Fuji's phone rang.

"Nee-chan. Hai, I'll be there soon. Well," he added to his fellow regulars, "see you tomorrow I guess. Ja."

Ryoma allowed Momoshiro and Eiji to drag him along with them, Kawamura trailing along behind. But, like Oishi and Fuji-senpai, he now had the ominous feeling that something was going to come up. It may not be related to tennis, but it might affect the regulars in some way anyway. This was all way too troublesome for his liking.

**XxXxXxX**

Oishi glanced at his friend uneasily. Something was bothering Tezuka alright, and it bothered him enough to make his miss an hour of practice that he scheduled himself, and even decline matches with Inui. He was out of sorts in his one practice match with Fuji as well, this afternoon. Oh he won the match, alright. But considering the fact that he was Tezuka, 7-6 was not good at all. Fuji was all for forfeiting the game seeing that his opponent was not fully concentrating. But Tezuka being Tezuka insisted on continuing, even adding that it was good lesson on keeping your wits about you in a game even when you were mentally distracted. Everyone had noticed that their buchoo was out of sorts, but only a few suspected that something was actually bothering him enough to affect his tennis. And Tezuka's tennis being affected was definitely not a good sign. Not with their next game coming up. It was a couple of months away, but still. After all, it was always Tezuka himself who warned against letting one's guard down. They had won the Nationals, but that didn't mean it was all over. The Nationals weren't the end of the road. Getting there and winning had merely been a stepping stone for them all.

"Tezuka, I'm going to be frank with you."

"What is it, Oishi?" asked the Captain, not bothering to turn to his friend.

"Something's bothering you."

"Hn."

"And it's not just me. Some of the other regulars have noticed too. Fuji and Echizen, to be exact."

"It's nothing, Oishi. I'll be fine."

Getting slightly irritated, Oishi put himself in the Captain's way. "Tezuka-kun, you can't tell me that it's nothing. If it were nothing then it wouldn't be affecting your tennis."

"Shows that much, does it?" said the bespectacled prodigy.

Oishi nodded. "It's rare that something bothers you enough to affect your game. You weren't going to lose to Fuji, that we all knew, but frankly, your play today sucked. By the standards you're looked at anyway. Tezuka's standard."

"That bad, Oishi?" Tezuka actually let out a small smile. He walked past his friend, knowing he would follow immediately.

"Okay so maybe, not _that_ bad," said Oishi, falling back into pace. "But you've got the team worried about you. _I'm_ worried about you."

"Hn."

There it was again. That favorite mono-syllabic answer. Why did all the people of his 'kind' talk this way? Echizen was exactly the same. Oishi had to struggle to keep his eyebrow from twitching. Instead, he sighed.

"Why don't you just tell me about it? Maybe you'll feel better?" he suggested. Oishi seriously doubted this, and knowing would bring more worry upon himself, but he could help his friend more if he knew what was troubling him.

Tezuka did not answer, but kept on walking in silence. He was contemplating whether to tell (and what _not_ to tell) Oishi. But who was he kidding? Oishi was going to find out soon anyway. It couldn't be helped.

"Fine."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

There you go, the first chapter. First of all, I would like to let you know that I'm fairly new to this whole POT thing. Once again, it was my brother who started watching the series (he brought home a DVD) and now he'd probably quite annoyed (doing a Kaidou, in fact) because I have yet again run ahead of him in the series and left him far behind. I'm going to watch from episode 90 onwards tonight (when I get the time and my mom is not on my back - she's not too fond of anime you see). They haven't reached Nationals yet in the part where I've reached, although the quarter finals are done with and the Top 4 have been chosen. So I guess I'lll just have to incorporate the finer details as I go along. But I don't think my whole timeline will be messed up.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm not so sure where this thing is going, myself. I have most of the plot in my head, but I have to sort out the finer details as usual. All the same, here it is.

Your reviews help fuel my passion and ned to write. D  
-**CherriesandRoses**

* * *


	2. Stranger

**Title:** Twilight

**Chapter Title: **Stranger

**Word Count: **2,139

**Status:** Continuous - Incomplete

**Pairing:** RyoxSaku , FujixOC

**Rating:** T

**Summary: "**Behind the facade of bravery and strength lies hidden a delicate, wounded heart that hasn't forgotten how to care." What do you mean by that? "The most beautiful, elegantly carved glass, no matter how heavy, is still glass. It needs to be handled with care, or it will shatter."

* * *

**STRANGER**

Ryoma tried to block out the sound of Horio's voice as they made their way through the corridors. He wasn't exactly 'walking' anywhere with his fellow freshman. They just happened to be heading the same direction for the time being. Horio was searching for his other two companions and had heard that they were in the Chemistry lab. Ryoma had to hand in a paper to their professor. So here he was, stuck walking beside the great one 'with two years tennis experience' towards the laboratories. Thank Kami he would be detouring to the offices in a few minutes. His ears were starting to ache and he just realised that his box of milk was now empty.

"Well, I turn here, Horio."

"Huh?" said that 'experienced' one. Apparently he had taken for granted that Ryoma was heading for the labs too. He raised half of his mono-brow. Before he could ask, however, the tennis prodigy had slipped round the corner and out of sight.

"Hmph. That Echizen," he said to himself, crossing his arms. "I hate it when he does that."

Shrugging, he continued on his perilous journey to the labs. He saw shadows behind that glass of the doors to ChemLab3 and deduced that his friends must be there. He reached out a hand to push open the doors when the door moved away from him of its own accord. Staring at the place where the metal handle was supposed to have been, frowning slightly. This wasn't right. Doors weren't supposed to move away automatically – not Seigaku's Chem Lab doors anyway. His brain was just about to come to the conclusion that either his friends were playing a nasty trick on him or the place was haunted. Yes, that must be it. There must be some ghost here, some spirit of an ancestor of Sadaharu Inui. That was when he heard the voice. From somewhere above his head.

"Are you going to move, or are you going to stay there like that all day?"

Wait a minute. That wasn't a very ghostly voice. It surely wasn't a male voice either. But then again, it did not sound very female. It was deeper, more throaty than the squeals he was used to hearing. He decided to look up. He nearly screamed. Okay so he did – a bit. He stared at the figure that loomed menacingly over him.

She certainly was female. Pale olive skin contrasted with her dark hair that fell a few good inches past her shoulders. Her equally dark eyes were narrow. But it was the rectangular top-framed glasses that magnified her ominous looks and aura about tenfold. And the look on her face, it was scary ... and very familiar, although Horio couldn't quite place it yet. That look of absolute authority and power and her tone of voice that made him feel compelled to carry out her commands. Too familiar. He had seen that somewhere before. Somewhere in the back of his mind, his memory knocked at his brain, trying to tell him how he recognised these things on this woman, this girl. But he felt too frightened for his brain to work properly at the moment.

She did not speak again. She did not sink razor-sharp teeth into him, did not reveal monster-like claws, did not tear him to pieces, did not declare that she was going to take him with her so that he could be her slave and later her dinner. Nope. She merely walked forward and past him and down the corridors, not sparing him another glance.

Horio was relieved. He placed a hand over his chest, right over where his heart should have been, and released a breath he had not known he was holding.

"Horio-kun, are you alright?" said another voice. Male this time. Just as menacing. Laced with barely contained excitement, anticipation. That evil laughter.

"Ah!" Horio really jumped this time. "Inui-senpai!" he said, relieved that it was someone he actually knew.

"Horio-kun, you look shaken, are you sure you're okay?"

Horio raised half his mono-brow at this. Inui-senpai being nice? Hmm. There was something strange going on here. Maybe that girl from earlier had something to do with Inui-senpai's current mood.

"Inui-senpai, that girl was your girlfriend, wasn't she?"

"Ah, Horio-kun, I see that your brains have been slightly addled by the shock you had a while ago. Perhaps you should have some of this?" he added as an afterthought, holding up a conical flask of a bubbly bright pink concoction that was emitting sickeningly sweet-smelling fumes that turned acid green as they came into contact with the air. "And no, she's not my girlfriend."

"My latest Inui Hyper Remix Special Upgraded, Momo-iro-zu."

Horio screamed and ran for dear life.

**XxXxXxX**

A soft friendly voice spoke near his ear.

"What's wrong, Horio-kun? You look shaken and jumpy this afternoon."

Horio disappeared from the courts in a flash.

"Eh? What's wrong with him?" Momoshiro wondered, scratching his head.

"Could I possibly be the cause?"

Momoshiro turned towards the sound of the voice. "Inui-senpai! You the cause? You didn't offer him some of your juice, did you?" Too late, Momoshiro realized that he had uttered the wrong words.

"Hmm. Momo-iru-zu. My latest Inui Hyper Remix Special Upgraded. Want to try?"

Momo eyed the pink concoction and tried not to flinch at the sight of the green gas. "No thank you."

Before Momoshiro could attempt to put as much distance between himself and his eerie senpai, they heard Ryuuzaki-sensei's voice call out.

"Alright, everyone's attention here please. Only regulars on Court A. The rest of you divide yourselves among Courts B and C. Leave Court D free, please." The non-regulars quickly gathered their things and made their way out of Court A. "Alright. Regulars. Today we're training with our latest improved training menu." Ryuuzaki-sensei held up a sheet of paper.

"Oh," said Inui. "Those who fail to comply will have to drink a glass of this -" he held up the pitcher of the concoction he had finished only earlier that day. "- and those who lose a match, come last or fail to complete the laps, or fail the training tasks assigned to them, will have to drink a shot of this." He held up the glass and the shot glass. To the rest of the regulars, it did not matter what size the glass was. As much as possible, they did not want to have even a drop of that dangerous looking stuff offered to them.

"Okay, first we'll have warm-ups. Light, clean games, please. Don't over-exert just yet. We'll begin with these set-ups: Momoshiro-Kaidou, Eiji-Oishi, and I'll play Kawamura. The remaining regulars Echizen, Fuji, buchoo will warm up on their own."

Ryoma approached his coach. "Sensei, why are you leaving Court D free?"

Ryuuzaki gazed down at the youngest prodigy. "You, Fuji and Tezuka can warm up there if you like. There's someone whom I need to evaluate."

Fuji and Tezuka went to play a light game. Ryoma proceeded to the nearest wall to warm up by himself. He wondered who it was Ryuuzaki-sensei said she was going to evaluate. Evaluate; what did she mean? He could hear her calling to someone and out of the corner of his eye, he could see her waving, indication her position, and someone approaching the courts. He ignored it and continued his assault on the milk and juice boxes and Ponta cans he had set up. That was when he felt eyes on him. Again.

"Ryuuzaki."

"Oh, Ryoma-kun. I didn't mean to disturb you," said the shy girl from a distance behind him. Ryoma could tell she didn't have her talkative friend with her at the moment – which he was truly grateful for.

"And yet you repeatedly come to watch my warm-ups despite the fact that you think you're a disturbance." Ryoma re-arranged the boxes and cans for another round.

"Oh," said the girl to herself, finding her shoes very interesting all of a sudden. "I _am_ a disturbance to Ryoma-kun. I'll be leaving now then."

"Just remember it wasn't me who said it," said Ryoma off-handedly. Sakuno stared at him for a moment, not entirely comprehending what she had just heard. Ryoma himself was not sure why he had said what he just did. He shrugged it off and returned to his warm-ups. Behind him, Sakuno left him to practice with a small but certain smile on her face.

"Echizen! Oi! Echizen!"

Ryoma caught the yellow ball and turned towards the source of the voice. It was Oishi.

"Oi! Ochibi! Come on here! Your turn to play Tezuka-buchoo!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at his acrobatic senpai and fixed his features into his well-known stoic I-don't-care-what-you-think-or-say-'cause-you've-got-a-long-way-to-go-and-I'm-going-to-defeat-you look.

**XxXxXxX**

Inui's new training menu was gruelling. He had them doing sit-ups and push-ups this time. This wasn't so bad for them normally, but the slowest one to reach a hundred and fifty was going to have a drink of that horrid Inui Special so everyone went all out. Echizen had to play doubles with Momoshiro again against The Golden Pair. They somehow managed to hold their ground this time. Momoshiro had definitely gotten much better at doubles ever since playing with Kaidou and once with Eiji. He even admitted to Echizen (albeit in whispers and swore him to secrecy) that he quite enjoyed playing doubles and would look forward to the next time he was cast to play in a doubles match.

After thirty laps around the court (those who took more than forty seconds to complete the last lap had to drink a shot of Momo-iru-zu, the one who came last got a huge glass), with Eiji barely stirring after his shot of Inui Special and Momoshiro probably out cold for the rest of the rest of the evening, they were dismissed almost an hour earlier than usual. Ryoma lagged behind in picking his things up, preferring to bounce balls against the wall and only go to the locker rooms when the noisy ones (Momo, Kaidou, Eiji, Oishi, Taka-san) were long gone.

When he finally went to change, though, he found Oishi, Fuji and Tezuka still on the courts with their coach. They seemed to be having a serious discussion so Ryoma let them be, making his way to the changing rooms. The sound of a tennis ball being hit, however, distracted him. He glanced back at the courts. The other three courts were empty, and in Court D, no one was playing. The three senpais and their sensei were still standing and talking. Who was playing then? The other regulars had gone, and as far as he knew, there was supposed to be no other tennis player on the grounds.

But Echizen being Echizen, he let his curiosity win over him. At least he didn't have to worry about Momo-senpai. Oishi and Taka-san would take care of them. He could investigate to his heart's desire. He followed the steady _pok-pok_ sounds to an area not far from the locker rooms. There, at the wall he himself liked to warm up on, stood a solitary figure, bouncing a tennis ball against the wall. One look at the wall told him that the ball always hit the same spot. The figure hit a Twist return. It hit the ground, revolving rapidly before bouncing back up to hit the exact same spot on the wall.

Ryoma saw that the person, whoever it was, was quite experienced in tennis. The form was excellent, the body lithe and fluid, bending and moulding, to meet each ball and return it with increased power or cushioning the ball so that a strong hard shot was returned with a slow spin or lob. Ryoma was impressed. And then, the figure performed a zero-shiki Drop-shot that could probably rival Tezuka's. The ball, mere millimetres from the wall, fell in a straight line and then spun backwards to stop at the player's feet.

_Not bad_, thought Ryoma. He was about to leave when he saw it. He could only see the person's back, but he could tell that the person was sweating. That was not right. He was been watching for only about fifteen minutes. This person could not have been at it for more than twenty. He could see the contraction of muscles on the back, like this person was keeping himself from bending over, determined to stand upright. What was going on here? The right hand holding the racquet was trembling. Through the loose black pants, he could almost sense the contraction of the muscles; he could almost feel himself the lactic acid soaking the triceps in the right arm. He could hear panting. This person could not have been going at it for so long. He would have heard. Frowning, Ryoma turned back towards the locker rooms.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

There you go ... Chapter two. I'll let you wonder who the eerie girl Horio met is and who the person Ryoma saw was. And what we're the three senpais and Ryuuzaki sensei discussing that they waited till all the other regulars had gone?

Please review ... you help fuel my passion and my need for writing D

**_CherriesandRoses89_**


	3. Spectral Encounters

**Title:** Twilight

**Chapter Title: **Spectral Encounters

**Word Count: **2,129

**Status:** Continuous - Incomplete

**Pairing:** RyoxSaku , FujixOC

**Summary: "**Behind the facade of bravery and strength lies hidden a delicate, wounded heart that hasn't forgotten how to care." What do you mean by that? "The most beautiful, elegantly carved glass, no matter how heavy, is still glass. It needs to be handled with care, or it will shatter."

_**Note:** For the purposes of this story, all characters are about 3-4 years older than they are in the manga/anime. This makes the twelve-year olds anywhere between 13 to 15 (depending on who it is); Momo and Kaidoh 15-16; seniors like Inui and Fuji, 17-18 years old. And for this story, they are in high school, assuming that high school spans 4 years before graduation to college. _

* * *

The next morning found the regulars incomplete once again during morning practice. Even Ryuuzaki sensei was absent, leaving the training menu in the hands of Inui and Oishi. Tezuka was nowhere to be seen. Ryoma found this highly irritating despite the fact that this was not the first time their buchoo or their sensei had been absent from practice. It seemed that what he and Fuji had sensed the previous day had finally gotten to the others. It was not Tezuka's absence that got to them. It was his attitude. He was cold and overbearing as always, but there was a feeling of uneasiness about him now; almost nervousness or uncertainty. It was not same nervousness related to a tennis match. No. The regulars knew that kind quite well. No. This nervousness was personal and distant. But what could be bothering Tezuka so much that he would miss an hour of practice one day and skip it altogether the next?

"Thinking, Ochibi?"

Ryoma glanced somewhere above him. It was not Kikumaru Eiji, but Fuji Syuuske who had spoken.  
"Hmm. I worry about him too. It's not like him to distance himself this way. Well, seeing as it's Tezuka, not this much."

"Ano, Fuji-senpai?"

"Hai?"

"Do _you_ know what's bothering him? Tezuka-buchoo, I mean? I saw him, Oichi-senpai and Ryuuzaki sensei, buchoo and you on the courts after hours yesterday."

"Ah, so that was you lounging about was it?" sad Fuji, smiling down at him. "Yes, I do know what it is, but I – I mean, we – have promised not to speak of it until such a time as he decides to reveal it himself."

Ryoma frowned at his senpai. Fuji was being vague on purpose. "And do you think that time will ever come, senpai?"

"Hm? Ochibi really wants to know?" Why on earth was Fuji using Eiji's nickname for him? It was getting annoying.

"No, not really, it at all. I just hope he clears it up whatever it is soon. It's messing up his play."

"His play, you say?"

"Yea, his play. How can he tell me I have holes in mine if he can't even play you well enough to get at least one love game?"

"Hn. You're right. Bit talkative today, aren't you, Echizen?" Thank Kami he had stopped using Eiji's nickname!

"Hn? No, just irritated."

"Oi! Fuji, Echizen!" came the call from Inui. "Hurry up! Time for twenty laps around the courts before we dismiss!"

"HAI!"

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Ryoma was on his way to the teacher's offices yet again. Just handing over a stack of papers for another teacher this time. Horio, as usual, was tagging along beside him. All Ryoma could think about was getting away from the loud mouth who had – allegedly – two years tennis experience and was not ashamed to brag about it to all who would listen. Still, Horio was Horio and there was naught to be done about that fact. And so Ryoma endured it, telling himself that this would count as training on controlling one's temper when playing a very noisy, loud-mouthed opponent. Thank Kami the teacher's room was right around the corner.

-----

"And so, Echizen, as I was saying: I, with my awesome two years tennis experience – huh?" Horio loked around him. He had once again found himself speaking to the walls. "Damn that Echizen! I hate it when he does that!"

Shrugging, Horio went along on his own. Where was he supposed to be going again? Ah, yes. ChemLAB3. For submission of a late assignment. If he didn't submit it today, he was sure to receive no marks. So he walked past the plaque that pointed to the laboratories, walked past the locked glass cases holding awards won by Seigaku students in science competitions and inter-school championships (of course there were students other than tennis players in Seigaku!), past the doors marked ChemLAB1 and ChemLAB2, all the way to the end of the hall to the double doors beside which a shiny white plaque read: ChemLAB3. And as he made to push open the door, it once again opened by itself.

Horio blinked twice. And then another three times. Surely he was imagining things. Seigaku's Chem Labs did not have automatic doors and _surely_ the lab could not be haunted? Right?

"Ah, Horio!"

"AAAHHHH!" Horio screamed. "It knows my name! The ghost knows my name!" And he threw his hands over his face to protect his fearful visage from the deadly phantom.

"Huh?" said the ghost. But wait – that was a man's voice. A very familiar man's voice. Horio dared – yes! He was indeed so very brave! – to open his eyes and check. He sighed. _Phew!_ It was just his Chemistry teacher.

"Eto, sorry about that, hehe," he mumbled, embarrassed. "I was just er, um, uh, … practicing!"

"Practicing?"

Horio nodded vigorously. "Yep! Practicing for the – the – the … uh … a play! Yea a play so here's my homework!" And with that, he stuffed his homework into the baffled man's hands, turned around and ran back down the corridor. He skidded round the corner, his sneakers making a loud screeching sound on the clean tiled floor. Wait a minute. What was he running from anyway? And he skid to a halt, fingers on his chin, thinking. He didn't realize he had stopped right at the staff room doors and was leaning on them. Next thing he knew, a huge brown mass of wood was moving quickly to his side, squashing him momentarily against the wall before forcing him to tumble painfully to the floor.

"Ouch!"

"Eh? What were you doing there, Horio?" asked the surprised voice of Echizen Ryoma.

"Nothing!" Horio replied defiantly straightening up and rubbing his side. "I was just thinking of why I was running! Oops!" he realized too late. "I mean, no, no. I was just standing there waiting for you! Yea! I was waiting for you!"

"Uh, waiting for me after running. Right," said Ryoma, walking away.

"Oi! Echizen! Wait up!" cried Horio, running to keep up.

Echizen kept himself from sighing with frustration. Horio was Horio and Horio being Horio was always like this. Even up to the point where he was running too fast after the steadily disappearing Echizen down the hall that he ran straight into someone.

"Oops, sorry," he said, backing off a bit and rubbing his nose.

"You should at least watch where you're going when you're running like that in the hallways," said a stern, and obviously irritated voice.

Horio froze and let out a strangled cry of dismay. That voice. _That_ voice. Was. The. Ghost's. Voice. There was no mistaking it this time. Horrified, Horio slowly lifted his head to look up. And there it was. That pale, yet olive toned face. Those dark stern eyes behind rectangular glasses. The Ghost.

"Aaaahhh! Gomen-nasai! Gomen! Gomen! Gomen! Aaaahhh!" cried Horio, bowing repeatedly to the offended spectre before running for dear life. He ran the whole length of the corridor in a few seconds, not bothering to dodge Echizen or give him any form of warning, and slamming right into the freshman regular. With many muttered words that sounded somewhat like 'gomen gomen, get-out-of-the-way-run-ghost-comin-very-angry-inui's-girlfriend-ghost!' Horio hurriedly picked himself up and disappeared.

"What the hell?" thought Echizen. Horio had looked genuinely scared. He got up and looked back down the hall. There was nobody there. Shrugging, Echizen, made his own way to the tennis courts. He was almost late for afternoon practice – again.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"INUISENPAI'SSCARYGHOSTGIRLFRIEND! AAAHHH!"

"Nandatte?" All the Seigaku tennis club players turned to watch Horio dash right into the courts, scattering tennis balls everywhere.

"Oi, Horio, calm down," said Momoshiro, grabbing hold of the frantic freshman, lifting him off his feet momentarily to stop him from getting away. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" asked Eiji, halting his practice match with Oishi.

"Inui senpai's scary girlfriend's ghost! I swear she's haunting me! Since yesterday every time I go to the Chemistry labs she's there!"

"Eh?" said Fuji. "Inui's girlfriend?"

"Ne, Inui-senpai has a girlfriend?" said Kaidoh, surprised.

"No, no, Kaidoh," said Momo. "Horio-kun here said Inui-senpai's girlfriend's ghost."

"Ah, yes. So he did," Fuji agreed.

"S-so Inui-senpai _does_ have a ghost girlfriend?" said Horio, obviously astounded. His question was answered with two hard knocks to his head.

"Horio-kun! Don't be so silly!" said Katsuo.

"Yeah, how could Inui sepia have a ghost girlfriend?" said Kachiro. Horio blibked at the two of them as the truth of what they were saying registered in his still cloudy brain.

"Ah, oh. Yea," he muttered, embarrassed. "Of course."

"Ne, ne," said Eiji, coming over with Oishi now. "It's obvious he can't have a ghost for a girlfriend, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of a girlfriend, does it?" Oishi nodded in a greement. Kikumaru went on, a finger on his cheek as he thought it out carefully, "So, doesn't that mean that Inui might actually have a girlfriend? What?" he added as he saw everyone staring at him.

"Eiji," Fuji answered, "You just said that Inui might actually have a romantic relationship with a girl in this school."

"Ah? So I did. Hmmm."

"Maybe we'll have to investigate this," said Momoshiro. "It doesn't seem likely to me, but it's not impossible at all, is it?" The others nodded their agreement.

"Demo, Momo-chan-senpai?"

"Nani, Echizen?"

"That _is_ the logical explanation. But this _is_ _Inui-senpai_ we're talking about."

"Ne, Ochiba has a point, minna."

"Hmm, you're right," said Fuji.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend, let alone a relationship with a ghost."

"AAAHHHH!!!"

Everyone jumped – quite literally too. Horio stumbled in his instinctive haste to as much distance as possible from the calculating voice of Inui Sadaharu.

"Inui-senpai!" Momo complained. "You nearly gave us heart attacks! Don't come up behind is like that!"

"Huh? Is that so? Well, anyway, according to my data, the chances of any regular beginning a romantic relationship at this time of year at Seigaku is less than twenty per-cent."

"Eh? How do you know that, Inui?" asked Eiji.

"It's all in here," said Inui, holding up his dark moss green notebook to Eiji's face as if it were another one of his special concoctions.

"Hmmm, than if it's not Inui-senpai's girlfriend," Eiji wondered aloud, "and it – no, she – is not a ghost, then who could she be? Maybe it's just a senior you accidentally keep running into, Horio-kun?"

Horio thought for a moment. "Perhaps, it is a possibility."

"Well, tell us what she looked like, then," suggested Kaidoh. "She might be in one of our classes."

"Yea, that's a good idea," said Momo. "Go on then. Describe your _ghost_."

Horio described the female spectre to the regulars, giving them every detail he could remember; from her voice to her hair, her skin, her rectangular glasses and her stern gaze. "And that mood about her; that – that – what's the word? Oh yes, that _aura_ about her. It was so familiar. And that look in her eyes. I've seen it somewhere before, I just can't remember where."

"What look?" Inui asked? "Doesn't sound familiar to me."

"Nor me," said Momo.

"Hmm, well it's kind of a stern look, you know?" said Horio. "Like if she told you to do something, you'd feel it in your bones, that you had to obey, no questions asked. She was scary."

"It does sound familiar," said Ryoma.

"You're right, Ochibi. It's very familiar. But where have we seen it before?"

The group fell silent, each thinking his own thoughts. Horio racked his brains. He knew that look. He recognized that aura. It was a feeling he was around almost everyday. _Come on, think!_ He shouted in his head. But he drew a blank. But at the same time, as he pictured the spectre's face, he saw more familiar features. The slight slant of the eyes, their depth, their piercing stare. He could hear the regulars behind him suggest to each other than they resume practice before Ryuuzaki-sensei returned and scolded them all. Or worse yet their captain giving them up to fifty laps around the courts as punishment for slacking off. As he heard this, something in Horio's brain nagged at him. His mind told him he was very close to the answer, but he just couldn't see it. Those eyes. That commanding aura of authority. He knew he was very familiar with them. But he couldn't make the connection.

"Horio-kun, let's get back to the courts," said Kachiro, grabbing his elbow.

"Yea, Ryuuzaki-sensei's coming. You don't want to get punished, do you?"

Horio nodded and followed his classmates back to the courts. As he turned, he glanced at the building from where Ryuuzaki-sensei was emerging. And with Ryuuzaki-sensei was –

"AAAHHH!!! IT'S INUI-SENPAI'S GHOST GIRLFRIEND!!!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

I'm back!!! I'm out of college for a while so I've finally had time to write something down. =D Hope you liked this chapter. Thanks to those who actually took the time to read the first two chapters despite the fact that they had not much plot event in them. thanks anyway!

Please review after reading!

Arigatou-gozaimasu!  
Puri!  
=D

sorry, I'm just so happy to be able to write fanfics again.

-CherriesandRoses


End file.
